Instruments and methods have been used in the state of the art to store personal and household items. These known instrumentalities, such as hooks, cases, closets, wardrobes and cabinets, have proven to be overly expensive and remarkably inflexible in solving the persistent and long-felt, unresolved problem of providing owners of personal and household items with an economical, flexible and adjustable storage solution.
Places in a home that are capable of storing clothes and other possessions are almost always used to their maximum capacity. For instance, closets often become cluttered, overcrowded, and messy, which often makes closets a very difficult place to keep cloths neat and organized. Regardless of the amount of storage space in a home, the allocated storage space almost always becomes fully (and quickly) occupied with items up to its capacity. Accordingly, there is almost a universal need for additional storage space.
In the instances where storage space becomes fully occupied, the owners of personal and household items have purchased large, obtrusive furnishings or fixtures to increase their storage space capacity in the household. In addition to being expensive, cumbersome and quickly occupied, many of these acquired storage instrumentalities do not provide any flexibility to the owner of the personal or household item, such as providing the owner with the ability to re-arrange or re-organize how items are being stored. In this way, most of the storage instrumentalities fail to provide adjustable storage space that can flexibly accommodate the space constraints in a household.
Another possible solution to the long-felt, unresolved need for additional economically viable, flexible and adjustable storage space is the construction or expansion of existing closet space. Adding extra closet space to an existing house structure, however, can be cost prohibitive—often requiring significant amounts of funding and incurring substantial construction efforts, as well as decreasing floor space in the home. The background of this invention will address, generally, closets, wardrobes and cabinets as several different types of storage units.
Closets
In Elizabethan and Middle English, a “closet” referred to a room where a person could sit and read in private. As time progressed, the term “closet” started to have a broader meaning relating to a small room or piece of furniture used to store clothing or other personal items. A closet in North American usage is an enclosed space, a cabinet, or a cupboard in a house or building used for general storage or handling or storing clothes. In British or Pakistan usage, a closet can also be a built-in cupboard or walk-in-wardrobe.
A closet usually refers to a small room used for storing things, especially one that is tall enough to walk into. Modern closets are usually built into the walls of the house during construction so that they do not use space from the accompanying room. A closet may also refer to a large, free-standing piece of furniture designed for clothing storage. Closets can also occupy spaces under stairs to fully utilize such awkward and otherwise unused spaces around the house.
There are many different types of closets. For instance, a broom closet is a closet with top to bottom space used for storing brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, cleaning supplies, or buckets. A coat closet is a closet usually located near the front door of a home, and it usually stores coats, jackets, hoodies, sweatshirts, gloves, hats, scarfs, and boots/shoes. A coat closet sometimes has shelving, but it may also have a clothes rod and some bottom space used to store clothes in boxes or drawers. Some coat closets may also possess a top shelf for clothes storage above the clothes rod.
A line closet is a tall, narrow closet in the bathroom, which has shelves for storing towels, sheets, washcloths, and toiletries. A utility closet is most commonly used to store appliances and cleaning supplies, and a walk-in closet is a storage room with enough space for someone to stand in it while accessing the items stored therein. A wall closet is a closet in a bedroom that is built into the bedroom wall, and it may be closed by curtains or folding doors. Clothes are often hung or stored in such wall closets. Wall closet spaces, however, are not uniform spaces from house to house, and the storage space in such wall closets is often not utilized to maximum efficiency for the storage of personal and household items.
Conventional closet storage arrangements, even in the most expensive new housing units, usually serve the design-builder's desires rather than the occupant-owner's interests in effectively and efficiently storing items. Wooden cleats are often fastened to walls of such built-in closets (e.g. side walls, a back wall), and a wooden clothes pole is often situated approximately sixty-five inches above the closet floor to maintain hanging clothes and coats. The wooden clothes pole is often suspended across the width of a built-in closet, and it is usually positioned at a sufficient height to accommodate hanging the owner's longer garments.
In most built-in closets, a shelf is placed on top of cleats located on the inner sides of the closet near the wooden clothes pole. The shelf has a tendency, depending on the width of the closet, to sag over time as it sustains a carrying load thereupon. In a thirty-inch span for such a shelf, a bracket can be attached to the rear wall of the shelf to supplement the support of both the clothes pole and the shelf. This particular arrangement results in a significant amount of wasted space without significant flexibility in its use for a built-in closet, especially when space constraints and flexibility of storage arrangements in a household need to be maximized.
Most people find storage space in a conventional closet to be inadequate for their storage requirements because people fully occupy the available space, which leads to an ever present need for more garment hanging space and more shoe storage space. In most closets, multiple pairs of shoes are stored in a pile or some other type of unorganized manner. People have also found it useful to have more garment hanging space than a conventional closet can provide. For example, it is sometimes difficult for users to slide garment hangers on a wooden clothes pole because the garment hangers bind on the pole when loaded with clothes or coats.
Some known closet organizers make use of existing closet rods or shelving, but these known systems re-distribute the closet space rather than adding additional usable storage space. Further, such known closet organizers are usually a “one size fits all” solution for use in a typical-sized closet with a so-called standard depth, which means the known closet organizers usually cannot be flexibly adjusted to the accommodate different areas for storage.
Thus, a convenient item and shoe storage structure for shoes and garments in a closet is still needed, as well as a closet organizer that supplements storage space in a closet by adding more shoe storage and hanging space and re-organizes existing space. There is also need for a space saving device that adds supplemental storage space in a closet, organizes and re-organizes shoes and garment storage to maximize the efficient use of space in a closet, and is adjustable to flexibly accommodate different sized closet spaces.
Wardrobes
The term wardrobe appeared in the English language in the early 14th century, and it originated from Old French words warderobe, wardereube and garderobe, in which “warder” meant “to keep, to guard” and “robe” meant “garment.” In old England, a wardrobe had an initial function as the location where the king's robe was stored.
Over time, the word wardrobe gained significance as referring to an independent storage building or space used to securely store all the precious items of the ruler, such as gold, valuable items, and robes. As kings, nobles, and royalty began to accumulate luxury items in their homes and castles, more space in the form of separate rooms were built to accommodate their clothes and valuables. The name of a wardrobe was given to such rooms in a noble's home where the wall-space was filled with closets and lockers for secure storage of their valuable possessions.
From these built-in cupboards and lockers, the modern piece of a furniture called a wardrobe evolved with its hanging spaces, sliding shelves, and drawers. A wardrobe usually refers to a standing piece of furniture that stores clothes, and the earliest wardrobes were crafted as a chest. Wardrobes can refer to a simple space where clothes are hung from metal bars or tucked inside utility racks running from up to down, sometimes with shelves for storing items.
In the latter half of the 16th century, wardrobe furniture was carved in a French Oakley style tallboy having under-cabinets instead of a chest with drawers. During that time period, wardrobes were also formed in a Chinese Ming Dynasty style using rosewood. In the United States, a wardrobe in its moveable form was fabricated using a “hanging cupboard” form, which is a form that dates back to the early 17th century. At that time, such wardrobe furniture was an early export product from America back to England, which were sometimes referred to as an Oakley because of the American-originated oak wood used in their construction.
For the next hundred year time period, such “oak” wardrobe furniture was produced in many different styles and numbers. As time progressed, wardrobes were produced from the plentiful American walnut because of the gradual decrease in the use of oak for cabinet-making purposes. Walnut succeeded oak as the favorite material for furniture, and during the 18th century, the tallboy wardrobe made of walnut became popular for storing clothes in America and Europe.
Hanging wardrobes appear to have been made frequently with drawers and sliding trays, although clothes presses were also present. In the nineteenth century, the wardrobe began to develop into its modern form with a hanging cupboard at each side and a central section with a press in the upper part and drawers below. Another step in the evolution of the wardrobe was taken when the central doors, which had previously enclosed an upper portion of the wardrobe, were extended to the floor. This extension of the central doors allowed the doors to cover the central drawers and sliding shelves, and these central doors were often fitted with mirrors.
In the United Kingdom, a wardrobe can be configured into a custom-fitted piece of furniture that is built around the size and shape of the room. A common feature of most wardrobes fitted in this manner is to size the furniture based on the eight small men method. In that measurement method, a good size for a double wardrobe was considered to be a furnishing capable of holding eight small men within its inner capacity.
The modern wardrobe differs in one respect from the historical furnishing by its triple partitioning. The triple partitioning has two linear compartments on either side with shelves and hanging pegs and drawers in a middle space. Modern wardrobes have the middle partitioned space in additions to a clothes' press in the higher central space on level with a person's chest.
Many modern wardrobes are commonly fabricated using mahogany wood. As previously scarce woods began to be obtainable in considerable quantities (e.g. satinwood), many wardrobes began to be inlaid with such wood features. Chippendale wardrobes possess unique carving features, while Sheraton and Hepplewhite wardrobes include artistic contrasted and highly polished woods.
Different forms of wardrobes and closets originated from different regions of the world. A Kas, kast or kasten (pronounced kaz) is a massive wardrobe furnishing of Dutch origin, which are similar to armoires that were popular in the Netherlands and America in the 17th and 18th century. Kastens were status symbols and family heirlooms in the Low Countries, with such luxury furnishings being imported to the American colonies in the 1700s. These furnishings were often made of quality wood such as cherry, rosewood and ebony woods with carved or painted panels. Such furniture was fitted with shelves and drawers to store linen, clothing and other valuables, and the contents were often securely locked in the furnishing a key.
Cabinets
A cabinet is usually formed as a box-shaped furnishing with doors or drawers for storing items. Cabinets usually have one or more doors on the front of the furnishing, which are mounted with door hardware and, sometimes, a lock. Cabinet doors may be hinged or sliding and may have mirrors on the inner or outer surface. Many cabinet doors are made of glass and have a finished surface, so the stored items can be displayed at the same time. Cabinets can be fabricated from wood; but, increasingly, cabinets are produced using synthetic materials.
Some cabinets are free-standing furnishings, while other cabinets may be built into a wall like a medicine cabinet. Free-standing cabinet furnishings are commonly acquired as separate furnishings, but built-in cabinets are usually custom made for a particular house or home situation. Such built-in cabinets are commonly fixed into their position on a floor, in a wall, or framed in an opening of the home, such as built-in cabinetry found in modern kitchens. Commercial grade cabinets are often called casework.
Before 1650, fine furniture and cabinets were a rarity in Western Europe and North America. For the next century thereafter, many cabinet makers were responsible for the conception and the production of fine cabinet furniture. In the last half of the 18th century, cabinet makers, such as Thomas Sheraton, Thomas Chippendale, Shaver and Wormley Bros. Cabinet Constructors, and George Hepplewhite, published books about different pieces of cabinet furniture. These books were compendiums of their production designs.
With the advent of the industrial revolution, there was an increase in the use of power fabrication and woodworking tools. That led to mass production techniques for furniture production, which led to widespread production and distribution of cabinets. At this time, the traditional cabinet shop ceased to be the main source of cabinet furniture. Cabinet shops and small production facilities focused on the growing demand during this time period for finely made furniture, which was being requested by the rising middle class. This growing demand for finely crafted furnishings eventually resulted in the growth small, specialized professional cabinet makers.
In addition to professional cabinet makers, the arts and craft movement started to take hold in the United Kingdom in the middle of the 19th century, which created a market for traditional cabinets, craft goods, and other craft home furnishings. This arts and craft movement spread to the United States and other countries in the British Empire, which was widely viewed as a reaction to the historicism of the Victorian era. After World War II, woodworking also became a popular hobby among the middle classes, which led to serious and skilled amateurs producing furniture that could rival the work of professional cabinet makers.
Several different design schools for cabinet furniture emerged over time. Furniture and cabinets crafted by Hughes Sambin (1570-1600) possessed double cabinets with a combination of architectural elements and relief carving that is characteristic of French furniture of that period. A Scandinavian school of cabinet design was typified by clean horizontal and vertical lines, and a distinct absence of ornamentation. French provincial cabinet designs are very ornate with stain or paint concealing the wood grains. The corners and bevels of the French provincial cabinet are decorated with gold leaf or gilding, and the flat surfaces on French provincial furnishings are painted with artwork, such as landscapes.
Early American colonial cabinet designs emphasized both form and materials with early American cabinet often being constructed native wood types, such as oak, walnut and mahogany. The rustic style of American cabinet design is typified by very utilitarian features, and these furnishings seek to show the cabinet materials in their natural state. For example, such furnishings may show the original contours of the tree the wood came from, or the contours of the logs or branches with the bark of the tree used in the cabinet construction.
Mission cabinet designs are characterized by straight, thick horizontal and vertical lines and flat panels; and, for early mission cabinetmakers, the material of choice was white oak, which they often darkened through a process known as fuming. Hardware on mission cabinets and furnishings is often visible on the outside of the pieces and made of black iron; and, the Mission style furniture became popular in the early 20th century after being popularized by designers in the arts and craft movement and the art nouveaux movement.
The Asian or Oriental design school for cabinet design is characterized by the use of bamboo and rattan materials, as well as the frequent use of the color red and landscape art. The Shaker cabinet designs are focused on function and symmetry because these furnishing designs were greatly influenced by the Shaker egalitarian religious values and tradition. Such Shaker cabinets are designed to express the utilitarian, functional needs of the community versus the creative expression of any particular cabinet designer.
Most people find storage spaces located in cabinet furnishings to be inadequate for their storage requirements over time because: (1) people usually encounter new needs for more hanging and storage space; and, (2) people usually find it useful to have more storage space than these conventional cabinets can provide over time. Known cabinets possess fixed storage spaces, which does not provide flexibility or adjustability in a storage system.
Thus, a flexible and adjustable storage system for personal items and shoes is needed, as well as a closet organizer that supplements storage space in a cabinet or wardrobe by adding additional storage space and hanging/placement structures. Overall, there is also a need for a space saving device that adds supplemental storage space in a cabinet, organizes shoes and garments to maximize the efficient use of space in a cabinet, and is adjustable to accommodate different sized cabinet, wardrobe or closet spaces.
Shoe Racks and Closet Organizers
Several types of storage organizers, shelving units, and other storage systems are known in the art, and some of them are capable of being arranged and configured in various ways during installation within a storage space, such as a closet. Such known organizers, units, and systems, however, cannot typically be readjusted or rearranged after installation, or adjusted to modify the number, angles, locations and positions of the shelves, racks and hanging elements. Accordingly, conventional storage organizers are not designed or configured to accommodate different types of storage structures, spaces, and accessories depending on the present needs of the user.
Shoe racks have been developed for storing shoes in a convenient manner, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,682,955 (Moore), which illustrates a reversible shoe rack having a shoe support pivotally mounted to a side frame, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,681 (Bergeron), which discloses a foot apparel storage assembly having shelves supported at a base upon a back plate. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 1,769,344 (Hoffmire) discloses a portable shoe rack with paddles that extend outwardly from a back brace in a manner to support shoes, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,238,884 (Hoffman) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,108 (Cicero) illustrate shoe racks for hanging shoes on a vertical surface.
A primary problem with conventional shoe racks, including the known shoe racks described above, is their inability to prevent shoes from slipping forward, backwards or from side-to-side off the rack without an additional side support member for blocking the shoes, and their inability to support different size shoes, such as heeled shoes and flats. The above-identified prior art shoe racks do not provide adequate support for all sized shoes on a rack, and these known shoe racks and organizers are fixed for a particular storage space, which does not provide flexibility or adjustability in a storage system.
A flexible and adjustable storage system for personal items and shoes is needed, as well as a closet organizer and shoe rack that supplements storage space in a cabinet or wardrobe by adding additional storage space, shoe storage areas, and hanging/placement structures. Overall, there is a need for a shoe rack and storage space saving device that adds supplemental storage space and shoe rack space in a closet or cabinet, organizes shoes and garments to maximize the efficient use of space in a closet or cabinet, and is adjustable to accommodate different sized cabinet, wardrobe or closet spaces. There is also a need for an inexpensive hanging shoe rack having side supporting members and a minimum number of parts, and a shoe rack that allows multiple racks to be suspended from one another.